Gas-fueled lighter



Dec. 31, 196s H. REMY ETAL 3,418,821

GAS-FUELED LIGHTER Filed Oct. 27, 1966 Sheet 1 of 2 8flo a HEKMBN N Orr@RoLe/a,

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Tr oRNEYs Dec. 31, 1968 H. REMY ETAL 3,418,821

GAS-FUELED LIGHTER Filed Oct. 27, 1966 Sheet 2 of 2 Hmm neaventuras T'ro@LER Fnnnz Hgeneri.

BY my United States Patent O 3,418,821 GAS-FUELED LIGHTER Hermann Remy,Dietzenbach-Steinberg, near Offenbach am Main, and Otto Adler and FranzHeberer, Heusenstamm, near Offenbach am Main, Germany, assignors toRowenta Metallwarenfahrik G.m.b.H., Offenbach am Main, Germany, a Germanfirm Filed Oct. 27, 1966, Ser. No. 589,991 Claims priority, applicationGermany, Dec. 20, 1965,

,263 9 Claims. (Cl. 6252) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A gas-fueled lighterin which a valve having a fuel passage opening in its seat is axiallyslidable in a valve housing including a fuel feed opening. A feed membersuch as a Wick protrudes through the feed opening into the housing forfeeding liquid fuel into the housing. A throttling member in the form ofa porous disc is interposed between the protruding end of the feedmember and the valve and a guard disc is interposed between thethrottling disc and the protruding end of the wick in abutment with boththe throttling disc and the wick. The guard disc has an opening which islaterally displaced in reference to the fuel passage opening of thevalve. The throttling action of the throttling disc is controlled by theaxial position of the valve in the housing.

rl'he present invention relates to a gas-fueled lighter such as alighter for lighting cigarettes, cigars, and pipes, and moreparticularly to a gas-fueled lighter in which the fuel valve, the burnerand throttling means for throttling the flow of gasitied fuel to theburner are accommodated in a common housing. Lighters of this kind,generally use a fuel such as butane in a liquefied state.

More specifically, the invention relates to the throttling means of alighter of the general kind above referred to. The valve assembly,burner assembly and the ignition assembly of the lighter should bevisualized as being conventional. These assemblies do not constitutepart of the invention and are hence not described or illustrated indetail.

There are now known lighters of the general kind above referred to inwhich a Wick is used for feeding fuel to the fuel valve. This wick alsoserves as a throttling means. Such an arrangement has the disadvantagethat the fuel may reach the seat of the fuel valve in a still liquidstate and as a result it may interfere with the functioning thereof dueto the formation of residual deposits of solid discrete particles andother impurities carried in the liquefied fuel.

To avoid this disadvantage it has been proposed to relieve the wick ofits throttling function by interposing a filter disc between the wickand the valve seat. Such filter discs are usually made of paper. Testshave shown that due to the thinness of such paper filters and the factthat the same are in direct contact with the wick, the filter discsbecome rather rapidly clogged by accumulations of impurities in theinterstices of the paper.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel and improvedthrottling means of the general kind above referred to with which afully satisfactory throttling action is obtained for a protracted periodof service.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improvedarrangement of the general kind above referred to in which thethrottling means is protected against the invasion of solid discreteparticles into the throttling means proper.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel ice and improvedthrottling means of the general kind above referred to the throttlingaction of which is adjustable to control the passage of gasified fuelttherethrough.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel andimproved throttling means of the general kind above referred to in whichsticking of the throttling means to the valve when the latter is raisedduring operation of the lighter ish effectively prevented. Certainthrottling materials otherwise suitable for the purpose have suchtendency of sticking. Accordingly the provision of an antisticking meanspermits a wider choice among throttling materials than was heretoforepossible.

The afore pointed out objects, features and advantages of the inventionand other objects, features and advantages Which will be pointed outhereinafter are obtained by interposing between the throttling means andthe wick an apertured but otherwise solid disc such as a metal orplastic disc thereby limiting the wick to its fuel feeding function. Asit is apparent, such disc substantially blocks the access of fuel in itsliquefied state and of impurities carried by the fuel to the throttlingmeans and the valve seat, thereby effectively protecting the throttlingmeans against clogging and the valve seat against the formation ofdeposits. In other Words, the fuel when and While still in its liquefiedstate is forced to remain below the protective disc and can reach thethrottling means and the valve seat only after it has reached itsgaseous state in which it is free of solid impurities for all practicalpurposes. A second apertured but otherwise solid disc may be interposedbetween the valve and the throttling means to prevent sticking of thethrottling means to the valve when the latter is raised during use ofthe lighter.

In the accompanying drawing several preferred embodiments of theinvention are shown by Way of illustration and not by way of limitation.

ln the drawing:

FIG. l shows an elevational sectional view of the throttling assemblyaccording to the invention installed in a gas-fueled lighter;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view similar to FIG. l and shoW- ing amodification of the throttling assembly;

FIG. 3 is an elevational side View of one of the components of theassembly according to FIGS. 1 and 2; and

FIG. 4 is a plan View of FIG. 3.

Referring now to figures more in detail, only such components of thegas-fueledlighter which are essential for the understanding of theinvention are illustrated. As pointed out before, the valve assembly,the burner assembly and the ignition assembly of the lighter should bevisualized as being conventional.

The assembly as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises a housing 4having a feed opening 4a. A feed member such as a suitable Wick extendsthrough the feed opening 4a into housing 4 which further accommodates avalve member 7 slidable in the housing. The valve member has a valveseat 8 including an aperture 8a for the passage of gasified fuel. Athrottling filter member 2 made of suitable porous material such ascompressed fibers is interposed between valve seat 8 and wick 1. Theporous disc-shaped filter member 2 is separated from direct contact withthe adjacent wick surface by a disc 3, including a passage opening 10.The disc constitutes a guard against the penetration of impuritiescarried by the wick into the filter member 2 and through passage opening8a. Disc 3 is preferably made of metal but may also be made of asuitable plastic. A sealing ring such as a O-ring 5 is interposedbetween disc 3 and the bottom wall of housing 4 to block seepage ofliquid fuel past disc 3 and toward and into filter or throttling disc 2.A second sealing ring 6 is interposed between valve member 7 and theinner wall of housing 4 to seal the valve member against the housing.

Valve member 7 should be visualized as being movable 3 from the outsideof housing 4. As is evident, displacement of the valve member toward thewick compresses filter 2 thereby correspondingly increasing thethrottling action of the filter and thus reducing the volume of gaseousfuel passing through opening 8a.

The compression and thus the throttling action of filter 2 can furtherbe controlled by an adjustment pin 9 which is straddled by the wick. Thepin can be screwed more or less deeply into housing opening 4a, byinserting a suitable tool into slot 9b. The pin 9 is preferably providedwith grooves 9a which as can best be seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, are shapedto accommodate 'wick 1 without appreciably compressing the Wick so thatthe same functions purely as a feed conduit. The fuel should bevisualized as being sucked on by the wick from the tank (not shown) ofthe lighter.

As is clearly shown in FIG. l, passage opening 10 is disposedeccentrically in reference to passage opening 8a in the valve seat.Instead of one apperture 10 several such apertures may be provided,preferably located on the same circumference.

The embodiment of FIG. 2 is similar to that of FIG. l, except that asecond disc 11 such as a metal or a plastic disc having an aperture 12is interposed between filter or throttling member 2 and the adjacentvalve seat 8. Aperture 12 is disposed in alignment with passage opening8a but eccentrically in reference to aperture 10. Several apertures 10and 12 may, of course, be provided in the arrangement of FIG. 2 also.

As previously explained, the second disc 11 serves to prevent adhesionof filter 2 to valve member 7 when the latter is raised.

Whilel'the invention has been described in detail with respect tocertain now preferred examples and embodiments of the invention, it willbe understood by those skilled in the art, after understanding theinvention, that various changes and modifications may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention, and it isintended, therefore, to cover all such changes and modifications in theappended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a gas-fueled lighter in combination:

(a) a housing having an end wall including a fuel feed opening;

(b) a value member defining a valve seat having a fuel passage openingand being axially slidable in said housing;

(c) a feed member protruding through said feed opening into the housingfor feeding fuel in a liquefied state into said housing;

(d) a generally disc shaped soft porous throttling member interposedbetween the protruding end of the feed member and the valve member and;

(e) a substantially rigid guard disc having an aperture but beingotherwise substantially solid interposed between said throttling memberand said protruding feed end member in abutment with both said members,said aperture being laterally displaced in reference to said fuelpassage opening, the axial position of the valve member controlling thethrottling action of said throttling member.

2. A gas-fueled lighter according to claim 1 wherein said feed member isin the form of a wick.

3. A gas-fueled lighter according to claim 1 wherein said valve seatopening is coaxial with the center axis of said housing, and said guarddisc opening is eccentric in reference thereto.

4. A gas-fueled lighter according to claim 1 and comprising a secondguard disc having an aperture but being otherwise solid, said seconddisc being disposed between the valve member and the throttling memberin abutment with the latter to prevent sticking of the throttling memberto the valve member when the latter is lifted in the housing.

5. A gas-fueled ligher according to claim 1 and comprising an adjustmentmember adjustably insertable into said housing opening, said feed memberstraddling said adjustment member at the end thereof insertable into thehousing, the depth of insertion of the adjustment member into saidhousing opening controlling the space available for the throttlingmember between the valve member and the guard disc and thus thecompression of said throttling member.

6. A gas-fueled lighter according to claim 5 wherein said adjustmentmember has lengthwise substantially diametrically opposite grooves inits wall, said grooves being dimensioned to accommodate the respectivewick portion without appreciably compressing the same.

7. A gas-fueled lighter according to claim 6 wherein said adjustmentmember is a set screw screwable into the housing opening.

8. A gas-fueled lighter according to claim 1 and comprising a sealingmeans interposed between said guard disc and an adjacent inner wall ofthe housing to block passage of fuel in a liquefied state past saidguard disc to said throttling member.

9. A gas-fueled lighter according to claim 1 and comprising a sealingmeans interposed between the valve member and the adjacent housing wallin continuous abutment therewith to block passage of fuel in a liquefiedstate past said valve member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,612,033 9/1952 Flamm 67-712,737,795 3/1956 Gruber 67 7.1

FOREIGN PATENTS 65,109 9/1955 France. 1,200,837 7/1959 France.

EDWARD J. MICHAEL, Primary Examiner.

Us. c1. Xn. 431-344

